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Monday, November 18, 2013

Saudi survey: Majority of Saudis favor women’s right to sports

A vast majority of Saudis favor women having the right to
fully engage in sports in a country that has no official facilities for female athletes
or physical education programs for girls in schools, according to a Saudi sociology
researcher, who has put forward a series of recommendations at a time that the
government is developing its first ever national sports plan albeit for men only.

Mariam Dujain Al-Kaabi concluded on the basis of a survey as
part of her master thesis of 312 Saudis active in education who were almost
evenly split between men and women that 73.5 percent unambiguously endorsed a
woman’s right to engage in sports while 21.6 percent felt that their right
should be conditional. Published by Ash-Sharq newspaper, the study countered
conservative opposition in the kingdom that asserts that allowing women to
engage in sports would have negative social consequences.

Ms. Al Kaabi’s study was published as the kingdom debates
granting women the right to engage in sports, attend sporting events in stadia,
enjoy physical education in state-run schools and on a non-sporting issue be
allowed to drive. While many members of the ruling elite, including King
Abdullah, are believed to favor granting women greater rights, the government
has so far shied away from confronting conservative clerics who condemn women’s
sports as corrupting and satanic and charge that it would spread decadence. The
clerics warn that running and jumping could damage a woman's hymen and ruin her
chances of getting married.

Saudi Sheikh Saleh bin Saad al-Luhaydan cautioned in
September as women launched an online campaign to demand their right to drive
that driving could affect their ovaries and pelvises. Sheikh Al-Luhaydan, a
legal and psychology consultant to the Gulf Psychological Association, quickly
became the target of ridicule on social media with Saudis sarcastically congratulating
him for his scientific discovery. An Arabic Twitter hashtag
“Women_driving_affects_ovaries_and_pelvises” went viral.

The government is hesitant to confront conservative elements
of the clergy at a time that it is trying to ring fence the kingdom against the
wave of discontent and protest that has been sweeping the Middle East and North
Africa for almost three years. While Saudi Arabia, a country where
demonstrations are constitutionally banned, has not witnessed mass protests, it
has experienced multiple expressions of demands for change, including protests
in the predominantly Shiite Eastern Province, home to its oil reserves;
demonstrations in the arch conservative town of Buraidah, a bulwark of Saudis
puritan Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, demanding the release of political
prisoners; protests against princes who own soccer clubs in stadia and online; a
women’s campaign for the right to drive; and an outpouring of criticism of the
ruling family on social media.

Human Rights Watch last year accused Saudi Arabia of
kowtowing to assertions by the country's powerful conservative Muslim clerics
that female sports constitute "steps of the devil".

Saudi Football Federation (SFF) president Ahmed Eid Alharbi,
a storied former goalkeeper who became the kingdom’s first elected sports
official after his predecessor, a member of the ruling family, was forced under
fan pressure to step down, hinted in September at the positive economic impact
of allowing women to attend soccer matches would have. He said that the
creation of facilities for women would increase capacity at stadiums by 15
percent.

Mr. Alharbi later qualified his remarks by saying that the
decision to lift the ban on women was not his. “A decision like this is a
sovereign decision. Neither I nor SAFF can make it. Only the political
leadership in this country can make that decision,” he said. The government has
been fretting over that decision for more than

a year.

Saudi Arabia alongside Yemen was the only Muslim Middle
Eastern nation that refused early this year to sign on to a campaign by Middle
Eastern soccer associations to put women’s soccer on par with men’s football.

In a statement, the associations grouped in the West Asian Football Federation
(WAFF), defined “an athletic woman” as “an empowered woman who further empowers
her community.” In a rebuttal of opposition to women’s soccer among some
Islamists across the region and more conservative segments of Middle Eastern society the seminar stressed that women’s soccer did not demean cultural and
traditional values.

The statement called further for the appointment of women to
the boards of WAFF member associations, establishment of a WAFF women’s
committee, creation of Under-16 and Under-19 women competitions in the Middle
East (West Asia) as well as the compulsory rotation of hosting of subsidized
WAFF women competitions – demands Saudi Arabia has yet to comply with. WAFF
nevertheless said that the kingdom would be included in women’s tournaments.

Ms. Al Kaabi’s study recommended that the government
introduce sports a s a compulsory part of the curriculum in all government
girls’ schools, provide playgrounds, approve sporting activities outside of
school, establish women’s sports clubs and public exercise and training
facilities, raise awareness of the health benefits of sports, establish a women’s
section in Prince Nawaf’s Presidency of Youth Welfare (the equivalent of a
ministry of youth and sports), and enable women to compete in international
sporting events.

Saudi Arabia bowed to pressure last year to field for the
first time ever women athletes at an international tournament, the London
Olympics. It did so by fielding two expatriate Saudi females.

Saudi press reporting on Ms. Al Kaabi’s study illustrated
the sensitivity of the issue. The Saudi Gazette introduced the study by
referring to the fact that Widan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani, a judo player
and one of the two Saudi women athletes in London, was more concerned about
being covered when her hijab dropped during the tournament than competing to
win.

“It was a dramatic scene for a sportswoman who was keen to
achieve recognition for herself and her country. What made the scene more
dramatic, however, was her insistence to preserve the true image of Saudi women
when she focused only on protecting her hair from being seen by others,” the
Gazette said.

James M. Dorsey
is a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies,
co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and the
author of The Turbulent World
of Middle East Soccer
blog and a forthcoming book with the same title.

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About Me

James M DorseyWelcome to The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer by James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Soccer in the Middle East and North Africa is played as much on as off the pitch. Stadiums are a symbol of the battle for political freedom; economic opportunity; ethnic, religious and national identity; and gender rights. Alongside the mosque, the stadium was until the Arab revolt erupted in late 2010 the only alternative public space for venting pent-up anger and frustration. It was the training ground in countries like Egypt and Tunisia where militant fans prepared for a day in which their organization and street battle experience would serve them in the showdown with autocratic rulers. Soccer has its own unique thrill – a high-stakes game of cat and mouse between militants and security forces and a struggle for a trophy grander than the FIFA World Cup: the future of a region. This blog explores the role of soccer at a time of transition from autocratic rule to a more open society. It also features James’s daily political comment on the region’s developments. Contact: incoherentblog@gmail.comView my complete profile